Rocksucker listened to a lot of albums this year and conferred varying degrees of merit (in quail form) upon them based on our own spurious criteria…

…and now we bring you our favourite hundred of them, counted down in order arbitrarily/for fun. By dint of mathematics (specifically 4 x 25), top spot shall be revealed on Christmas day. Now, let’s get crackling, and then cracking…

68 Regina Spektor – What We Saw From the Cheap Seats

Grinsomely (it’s a word now) theatrical, that key mix of witty and charming both lyrically and musically. Even when it errs towards FM schmaltz as on “How”, it benevolently refrains from becoming the power-ballad it threatens to be. “I can’t write a song for you / I’m out of melodies” she sings on “Jessica”, lying through her teeth.

Oh, and listen out for the ‘borrow’ from “Saint Simon” by The Shins on the otherwise compelling “All the Rowboats”…

66. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

Two of the most epic tracks ever presented, two static wildernesses. As usual (if you can say that about an group releasing their first album in ten years): wow. Not one for all moods, of course, but worth setting up a stage for.

65 Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself

“Beekeeper, sing of your frustration / In this litigious breeze / Of accidental pollination / In this era without bees” – is this the opening lyrical gambit of 2012? Right from the off, the talented Mr Bird establishes a pastoral setting with uneasy, apocalyptic undertones; this delicate balance of Mother Nature vs her destroyer can be powerful stuff in the hands of an intricate craftsman like Bird, so fortunately we’re led gently through a magical, Nick Drake-y garden and spared the kind of cack-handed tackling of big issues displayed by the likes of Muse this year. Break It Yourself may or may not be a peaceful protest album, but either way it’s a beauty.